Office 365 Distilled

There are a lot of things to discuss with regard to your Collaboration journey and which tools should be used for what is a key Decision.  Steve and Marijn get down and dirty checking out two of the applications  SPO (SharePoint Online) and MS teams.  It goes a little like this:

00:00:14 Steve
KI kind of hate this whole notification thing in Ms teams. Okay.

00:00:21 Marijn
Probably because you're not using it in the right way.

00:00:26 Steve
Okay Mr. high and freaking Mighty then why? What am I doing wrong?

00:00:27 Marijn
****

00:00:29 Marijn
No, no no. I'm just saying this notification system works as you know, just like it should on Outlook 

00:00:41 Marijn
For when people are collaborating in the organization and you or they should send you an email where you are in the CC.

00:00:49 Marijn
See, you shouldn't be. You shouldn't have to read. It's not information that you need to know in order to do your job. 
If you're in the CC square, so for that they can just post that information on the team. If they need you to do something with it that you need to be put in the two fields and for that, in teams, the equivalent is actually tagging you or tagging a group of people, and that is the thing that you should get in your notification.

00:01:20 Marijn
Should only be the items that you need to do something with.

In this episode of #Office365Distilled Steve pulls up an old Ignite slide, from the Ignite Hangout.  It described the process often used in sales, to move the customer to a state of commitment.  Steve and Marijn take that funnel and consider how it applies to M365 adoption.  Moving our users from Interest and Understanding to Value before Committing to the change.

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In Episode 57 of Office365Distilled:

#OFFICE365DISTILLED Steve Dalby and Marijn Somer in EP57 discuss top items to teach anyone how to Collaborate

#OFFICE365DISTILLED Steve Dalby and Marijn Somer in EP57 Ask you to Tell us your thoughts on the podcast

#OFFICE365DISTILLED Steve Dalby and Marijn Somer in EP57 Discuss what's in a name when the hidden 'Spaces' became 'Moka' which was launched as 'Boards' and is Project Moka now finished?

#OFFICE365DISTILLED Steve Dalby and Marijn Somer in EP57 discuss the constant complain that no definitive date is available for a new application to launch.  But Steve knows why.

#OFFICE365DISTILLED Steve Dalby and Marijn Somer in EP57 Talk about some new features like Boards, Scheduler, and the Duo.

#OFFICE365DISTILLED Steve Dalby and Marijn Somer in EP57 What are the values of collaborations tools, feature richness, ease of use, in place governance?

#OFFICE365DISTILLED Steve Dalby and Marijn Somer in EP57 hit the usual disagreement on telling the user the way they should collaborate.

So do you want the Famous Office365Distilled.com opening “HHHhhhheeeeyyyyyy Marijn’ as a ring tone?

And as mentioned in the podcast…  'e' vIHarqang, ghojwI'pu' qeylIS,  

The boys hook into the simple task of Saving or Opening documents in Microsoft 365 and conclude that it has not changed in 30 years and still it’s difficult to open a document unless you recently accessed it.

They look at the new All document update on the home page and how now it is more than the most recent 15 documents.  It provides a bunch of extra stuff about the documents.  Marijn identifies that the new App bar will also identify recent content from different sites.

Cortana coms back as the boys discuss if ‘miss Graph is somehow related and who has the real intelligent.

What is the definition of Recent documents and does Delve, Cortana and Miss Graph have some input to what is displayed?

Is it the time to bring back ‘My Site’ a place where anyone can see you and all about you.  You blogs, documents… Maybe this is the time to bring back a more accessible ‘My profile’ that looks good in public.

If you want to see Steve and Marijn on their You Tube channel Click >>>  https://youtu.be/8m8clnpRtsk?sub_confirmation=1  

The boys finish in true lockdown style by talking about 2 whiskies, yes 2 one from Scotland and one from Japan.

In this episode, the boys start with cars and Marijn still learning about his new motor car and how long it takes to learn all about the different controls.  They remind everyone that their new Whisky@Ease YouTube channel has launched

 https://youtu.be/8m8clnpRtsk?sub_confirmation=1  

They report back on the speaking session that has not happened at the point of recording but went well at the time of the mix down!!!

The subject is Viva which of course is built on the release notes of cortex and its been really cool watching this initial release and launch turn into a set of great products.

Steve points out that historic applications like Delve and Graph have driven the capabilities that today has been refined into Viva Topics and Connections.

So they look at the extra features and the four products…    Topics, Connections, Learning and Insights.

Marijn looks at Topics and how it could retain the corporate knowledge.  Steve suggests that adoption is all about teaching people to share and collaboration and disagrees with Marijn who suggests that people keep it in their head.

The knowledge is less tacit and more hidden on OneDrive etc.

Viva will not necessarily fix problems, but it will provide the evidence to move towards a solution. 

Security is important but it might need to go a step earlier and start to show content that you are not allowed to see.  Of course, with permission.

Connections and topics will need managed metadata and transparency in place and across the organization.

One great working example might be Viva ensuring everyone is reminded about the Agile Epics, Features User stories that are relevant to a specific topic.  Maybe it can start to enhance communicate strategic items if seeding is correctly enabled across the organization.

The Guys throw in the first advert for the Whiskay@ease channel, which is on YouTube. Just search Whisky@ease to see Steve and Marijn

Shout out for the March teams Summit and the Omaha365 User Group lunchtime sessions where Steve and Marijn have slots to speak.

Steve realizes that he should not trust everything he hears because he believed that you could only have 30 channels, but the reality is 200+. Always confirm your information.

UPDATE:  If you want to see all the MS Teams previews as they release then  Admin Teams > Teams > Update Policies  and decide who should get the new updated features

Marijn explains how to use MS teams and how you can manage your time spend using MS teams through a little personal management of your channels and Teams.   This includes showing how to use MS Teams showing how to Tag people.

Steve talks about including content in the adoption communications, and Marijn tells you how you can re-apply the un-read items.  They also cover the fact that notifications are essential to ensure that you are notified about the crucial channels and teams

Marijn tells his latest User story about asking Microsoft to show in the OneDrive Synchronized files to show which ones are shared as an icon

Steve suggests that before you create a new Team or new Channel that you think about how the user will feel about another entity or if a new document library will suffice

 Remember you can @ someone In the chancel if the subject is right but use the personal channels to speak to someone directly.

Steve points out that the convenience of ‘Just creating a new Team’ has some dependency on the global retention policy, which might, of course, mean a team/SPO site cannot be deleted.

Emojis can same lots of time and responses, use the LIKE to make a powerful statement of support

Steve suggests a new App called the @ed me App that sends over all the Likes from your outlook and MS Teams chat.

Control of Notification is possible; check the settings

Steve talks about the ‘MS teams search’ bar and how cool it is. Discovering the strength of the / comments and the @ and # the search of great content

The boys discuss that the search bar must be a hot item for MS to be strongly considering.

We look at the channels and how you can now add the Praise images for things like Awards

Checking out connectors and add-ins for the channels for integration with external apps

Bots are discussed, and whilst it is a great idea, but then we wonder how many people stick with a bot long term

So the real question is eventually asked why you would create a private channel?  Marijn quotes one great example of keeping content away from external people who are in the same team.

Marijn Quotes Disney, specifically a Princess, on the Office365Distilled podcast. 

As an end-user, who would they create a private channel when they could make the team.  Other than Private channels, ONLY in the coming months, will have retention applied.

Two words  ‘ It Depends’  which whilst we laugh about is a perfect description for considering when and if to create a Private channel 

Be aware that you can only be a member of a private Channel if you are a team member.  When you add people to a private channel, the user list is driven by the Team membership

Marijn suggests that the objective is to collaboration, so ignore the no folder rule, and Steve indicates that this is a compromise too far.

Add channels and build things that only add value as a golden ruled

In this edition, the boys talk about the relationship they have both had with SharePoint and its 20-year journey.

The day they both met for the first time and the spark that said this would be cool.

The first date when they started to understand the complexities and depth of our new partner.

That extraordinary moment of the first Kiss and you realised that this was a commitment for life.

Of course, they discussed getting to second base, but we edited that bit out after all who wants to hear about anyone getting intimate with a software piece. But don’t underestimate the need to get-on-down with SharePoint to make it shine with happiness!

The many arguments that took place because SharePoint would not do the things you wanted to do

That moment in any relationship when you realised it was getting serious

The sad time of the affair when SharePoint ran away with Exchange and created the illegitimate child calls Groups.

Briefly, the breakup of the family is discussed as Lists leave home and set up on their own

And we touch on the adopted family where the Hub site can connect with lost children.

Steve and Marijn start with Formula 1 and the changes this season, which are about restricting resources so that to win you must make everything count.  ‘making everything counts’ makes Steve think about what specific functionality in the core apps, Outlook, SPO and MS teams deliver the most significant value.

Marijn explains that he has moved to the dark side on the side of the user. All because they have cookies.  Marijn shouts out that he will be on Blame the end-user video and the boys call out about the people they are collaborating with.

Steve eventually starts with Parallelism, not a cult but looking at how the F1 teams manage with reductions in all areas for 2021 and looking to make every bit of resources count.  So how can we parallel that to the adoption of Office365?

Steve suggests we look at the Big sell for the big 3 apps in M365.

Outlook always goes first, so what adds the most significant value, steve suggests it connects to all the other content in the Cloud ecosystem.  The value of such things like adding an attachment in a literal few seconds.

Marijn talks about the Email being a notification tool, but the components are active to respond without leaving the outlook message.

Email keeps you in touch with lots more great notifications like an update by others in co-authored documents.  And Dear jeff messages gets the idea of groups notifications and Cortana groups all the updated together.

Lists become a valuable item for SharePoint as well as a massive shout out for Metadata from Marijn.  Steve reminds us that now on Lists, you get comments by default.

It all just happens, fantastic!

Steve learns something new following on from checking in with Marijn about auto-tagging in folders. With MS teams, this makes your folder view from your channels become dynamic metadata driven libraries.

Marijns value for MS teams is about everything in one place… much of it as an extension of collaboration.

They talk about virtual events and how repetitive they have become because they are all the same.  Then they remind us that Ignite the Spring event has been scheduled for March.

The boys lower the tone a little by suggesting that we only attend meetings Partly dressed and take the session with a twinkle in the eye

Then there is a hint of the new WhiskyAtEase YouTube channel to be launched soon as Steve and Marijn got together over the holidays to record the first Whisky Journey across Scotland. Watch this space.

Finally finishing off with a conversation about eating in the lockdown the boys eventually start to get to the subject of this podcast   MOCA, the Modern Collaboration Architecture…

Successful collaboration means getting the community time, individual time, and team time in the right proportion

The Microsoft adoption web site S&M check out the MOCA one page PDF and the supporting slide show.

There is a lot of conversation around the value of community in the business supporting the development of innovation at the coffee machine that is not available in lockdown.  Steve suggests that community-time is management driven community time within an ever-filled calendar.

How do you encourage Lockdown community?  People need time to interact as a community for personal development and to discuss ideas when there is pressure to meet goals and focus on delivery

The MOCA document shows SWAY which Marijn says must be SharePoint… is he saying Sway is not a collaboration tool 😊 

Performing in a team means getting support for community time and individual time

There is a discussion about the Team's applications to use. Steve suggestions that published content does not belong in OneNote. It is a NOTE book, not a sway PAGE.

Teams are discussed, and the suggested number of 5-12 is explained as a scientific fact around quantity v Qualitative and how decisions can be agreed quickly with the right number.

Steve talks about a solution for ensuring sites are correctly aligned with the governance so Site Owners can adjust their settings if needed.

The boys have a long chat about the ratio of time between Community, Individual and Team time that ensures a team member has time to be creative and support the team goal

This is an unusual finish for an O365Distilled podcast because neither of the boys gets on with the Whisky they have chosen to taste; it leaves an oily finish that they find unpleasant. But they still finish the glass.

The Guys continue their conversation when the Microphones turn on about their failed Wish.com purchases…  leads nicely into a talk about Quality and level of value…

So there are definitions of maturity for M365 which starts at 100 and moves through 5 levels 100 to 500.  

Steve works through the Differences and Definitions and the boys look to understand the people who will drive maturity…

The 25-year-old millennial who drives change because they need new tools and don’t want to work with old tools that have been around for 20 years.

Steve gets a little hissy about the value of the individual when it comes to measuring the organisation maturity…  and Marijn drops his ‘It Depends’ when considering how to drive the change forward.

The conclusion is that Chaotic theory will kick in and groups of people will drive forward their areas because of individual motivation.

Steve makes Marijn look at the maturity level and decide if he is for them or against them…  he sees that they are a great baseline.  They try to work out how to create the baseline…

Marijn makes a list of the things that you are looking to achieve with the business and Steve keeps trying to get Marijn to see that some measurement is required…  so that continual improvement can continue you need to understand the start.

Level 100 is often defined by the lack of consistency in how Microsoft 365 is used across the organisation leading to confused and frustrated users.  Islands of Expertise be a positive but as people move from island to island the experience is different

The conversation turns to looking at how this might be affected by the size of the organisation… will 5 people move to higher levels quicker than say 5000…

At Level 200 where a common understanding exists then new changes and updates can be fitted in… Level 200 means that an organisation has a set of common policies that the whole company can work towards.

Marijn points out that this enables the standards to be based on the business needs and values are…

Level 300 is the minimum target where Collaboration becomes a standard process, and the role of the consultant is to ensure that the company gest to Level 300.

Real value is obtained when you measure the maturity of the company and productivity score considering them together.  Together they provide the reference points that can drive change and Continual improvement  

At level 300 the organization will start to see real improvement in the way the organization communicates and changes.

Reaching 400 means that the Business trust the technology and the service providers.  However too much formality can reduce agility…

Maybe the move to level 400 does not work for your organization so care is needed to ensure that a formal approach with automation does not reduce the ability to develop further.

At level 500 the company is better managed with automation as standard replacing many regular functions previously manage manually or driven by manual processes

The optimization at Level 500 use as it is appropriate.

In conclusion defining the development and levels of maturity it provides a basis for management to define the level of change needed and to justify the costs that it will take and enables a value to be defined

Then it is time to go to the Ilse of Aaron on the west coast of Scotland for our whisky tasting for a whisky named after a famous stone that gets the name… ‘elegance in a bottle’ 

Marijn askes a great question of the listeners… How did we change your mind about something over the last 50 episodes?